Charting\monitoring with a gadget but a reusable one.

[jellyjelly]

I would like to start charting in preparation for ttc but i would like a gadget that is reusable ie that you dont need to buy lots of sticks.

Can anyone recommend one at all.

[TryLikingClarity]

bumping for you.

[jellyjelly]

Thank you.

[galwaygal]

babycomp / ladycomp
fertility duo

Or go cheap with thermometer and use fertiltyfriend.com website?

Or the saliva monitor - I have never used this.

These are just some ideas

[jellyjelly]

Hello. What is baby comp/lady comp?. Do you know what would be the most accurate as I will be having fertility treatment.

[galwaygal]

The fertility duo and the babycomp, are both just fancy ways of measuring your BBT and giving you an idea about your ovulation pattern. Both devices try to predict 6 days ahead when you will be fertile, and having used both, they are fairly good, they obviously can't be perfectly accurate, and there are issues with each in terms of convience, but they do help.

Link to a babycomp website

Have you done any charting before of CM, OPK's or BBT?

[jellyjelly]

Thank you Galway girl. I have an 8 yr old and to get him, we roughly looked into middle time of month but not to any great deal.

This time we will be doing iui and using donor sperm, hence the reason for wanting to be accurate because of the cost etc.

Can you explain opk's?. I really am at the begining of sussing this out.

Thank you.

[galwaygal]

The best advice I can give you is to either look at the book "taking charge of your fertility" or as I did to start with: go on fertilityfriends.com and look at the charting course they give online (its free).

I never found OPK's worked for me, and I know lots of people who have difficulties with them. I found that the opk's turn posiitve for me just as I am ovulating rather than the supposed 24-48 hours in advance. And since sperm are better deposited just before ovulation rather than on or after, it never worked out for me.

I have found that the best method for me is monitoring my cm and noticing ovulation pain.

Do have a look at the web site above, I think it will help.
Hope it all works out for you.

[Stasi]

Hi Jelly,

I'm on cycle 15 trying to conceive my first, so can't say "it's worked for me" - but the best thing I've found is tracking my body temperature.

I switch off the alarm in the morning, reach over to snooze the alarm and pick up my digital thermometer, then stick it in my mouth till it beeps. Read temperature, write it down, then start my day (or snooze for another few minutes).

Just doing this every day can tell you when/if you ovulate, and when your period is due to start. It can also give you a good indication whether you are pregnant if you have a high temperature for more than 18 days (good way to hold yourself off of taking a test early).

I have irregular cycles, though I think it's within 'normal' ranges, but I have found my BBT to be the best way to track everything about my cycles - my temperature stays fairly constant around 36.5 before ovulation, then goes up to about 36.7 post ovulation. The morning my period starts, by temperature drops down to about 36.4. Apart from the disappointment of knowing I'm not pregnant, I really like knowing the exact day my period will start. The 18 day rule has also saved me a fortune in pregnancy tests.

The downside of this method is it only shows you when you have already ovulated - and at that point it's too late to do anything about it! If you have regular cycles though, then it should be possible to predict your fertile time for the following months. It can also give you peace of mind - the morning you get your high temperature you ask yourself 'did we do it in the last 4 days?' if yes, you feel good, if not - well, you know not to get your hopes up.

Hope this helps a little.

[eurochick]

temp charting on fertility friend or similar is almost certainly the cheapest way to monitor your cycle. As the other poster said though, it only confirms ov AFTER it has happened. But if you have a regular cycle, you will get to know it pretty well over a few months. E.g. I ovulate on either day 14 or 16 (presumably depending on which side I am ovulating from).